Domestic cats are arguably the greatest anthropogenic threat to songbirds that currently exists, aside from habitat alteration and/or destruction (Loss et al. 2013). Although numerous campaigns have pushed for “cats indoors,” many cat owners are unwilling or unable to keep their pet cats indoors (American Bird Conservancy 2015). In rural New York, where many people keep farm animals, there is also a sizable population of barn cats that are kept specifically as outdoor pets to keep barnyard mouse populations in check. Although some owners choose to ignore the carnage their cats are inflicting on local birdlife, many others do in fact care about the barn swallows, savannah sparrows, and bluebirds that their barn cats are killing, as well as the backyard warblers, grosbeaks and catbirds in villages and hamlets across the North Country and the Adirondacks.
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